Brazilian Strawberry Trifle

‘Every food has a story’, so it says the slogan of Australia’s Feast Magazine. This is absolutely true. When I am cooking, in special for my blog, I always think about the story that is behind that particular food. I am there in the kitchen, stirring something, slicing, mixing a cake, preparing a dessert, etc, thinking about what I am going to tell and all of the sudden I remember an event related to the dish. It can be either the cooking process, any difficulties I had, how I learnt the dish, something special about the produce, shopping or the story of a special occasion in which the dish was served.

This Brazilian Strawberry Trifle is no different. This dish reminds me when I used to work for an accounting firm when I lived in Albury (NSW) many years ago. I met lots of great people over there and made good friends and many of them are still in touch with me today. It is amazing how they embraced me as part of their team in a very warm way. Being originally from another country it is always more difficult to start a new job because of cultural differences. But from day one they treated me as part of their team. There was an occasion in which they had a morning tea to celebrate ‘Harmony Day‘, a wonderful initiative by the Australian government in which all Australians are invited to celebrate Australia’s diversity. It is amazing that people from more than 200 countries make up the Australian community and more than 300 languages are spoken in Australian homes, including my mother language Portuguese! Anyway, they asked me to cook something from Brazil to bring to the tea. My instant reply was: no need to ask twice! Straight away they knew that cooking was my passion. I decided to make two dishes: coxinhaBrazil’s classic chicken fritter and this strawberry trifle.

I knew that they were going to like my Brazilian food, but I had no idea that they were going to love it! I think I made around 60 coxinhas for that day for 25 people and the fritters disappeared from the table in the blink of an eye. Seriously, there were loads of food that day but they were the first to go! There is no better way to make a cook happy – just eat the lot, leave the plates empty. When the sweet things were served it was the same reaction. Even after all that food, I remember some people helped themselves twice with this trifle. Interestingly some guys did that, which is a bit unusual because men normally don’t have such a sweet tooth as women do. I couldn’t be prouder! From that day on, I didn’t miss a single opportunity to bring my Brazilian food for them to try in the office. Always with positive feedback! I already said this here, I love the fact that Aussies are open to try different foods all the time. This combined with Australia’s cultural diversity make Australian cuisine very special.

Now back to the trifle. This is a classic Brazilian dessert that is inspired in a sweet called Strawberry Bon-Bon. The bon-bon is made by covering a strawberry in a sweetened condensed milk paste and which is then enrobed in chocolate. My guess is that the trifle was created to be an easier version of the bon-bon. Also, Brazilians are crazy about super sweet creamy desserts that is why trifle is a very popular dish which is is called there pave. The original trifle has a layer of sponge fingers, then a sweetened condensed milk custard, strawberries and a milk chocolate ganache on top.

A trifle has to be exaggerated, indulgent and rich. To make the Brazilian dessert look more like a Christmas dessert I added some crunchy almonds to the custard, made a dark chocolate ganache and added a top layer of whipped cream with more strawberries and almonds to garnish. I chose this recipe to be the official Christimas dessert of my blog, because trifles are one of the top desserts for this holiday. I don’t see many trifles made with strawberries only or made with sweetened condensed milk custard, so maybe this dish could be a touch of Brazil on your Christmas table? Merry Christmas!

Ingredients

First Layer

250g store-bought sponge cake

Second Layer

2 cans sweetened condensed milk

2 cups (500ml) milk

50g flaked almonds, lightly toasted

Third Layer

600g strawberries

Fourth Layer

200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

300ml thickend cream

Top Layer

400 ml, thickened cream

Strawberries, extra, to garnish

Flaked almonds, extra, to garnish

1/4 tsp golden luster dust (optional)

You have to start this recipe one day ahead

Instructions

1. For the custard, pour the sweetened condensed milk and milk into a medium saucepan over medium heat and stir frequently with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and stir continuosly for 25 minutes or until the mixture is thickened. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the almond flakes, cover and place in the fridge for for a couple of hours to cool.

2. For the dark chocolate ganache, pour the cream into a small saucepan over medium heat and heat the cream until is almost but not quite boiling. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Stir until chocolate is combined and set aside to cool.

3. Arrange the sponge into a 12 cup capacity trifle bowl. Spoon the custard on top. Wash the strawberries well, using kitchen scissors cut the stalk of each strawberry very close to the base without pulling the stalk (this is to avoid strawberries from bleeding into the dessert). Top with a layer of strawberries. Spoon the ganache over the strawberries.

4. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form (chantilli consistency). Spoon over the dark chocolate ganache. Place the almonds in a freezer bag with luster dust and shake until they are golden (if desidered). Garnish with extra strawberries and almonds. Refrigerate overnight.